The Human Chair and other curiosities

As a creature who self-identifies as a hermit crab, the past weekend has been jarringly full of events. I mean that in a positive way though—this unspeakably ugly person needed to leave the interior of a leather armchair and experience the outside world, to celebrate my 33 years of existence. 

In other, less purple prose: I've been listening to a reading of "The Human Chair" (人間椅子) by Edogawa Rampo, one of my favorite authors, on vinyl. 

I dug it up at Vinyl Daze in Virginia Beach. I initially returned to the soundtrack section to dig up a reading of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum", which I forever regretted not buying, but found this instead. The jacket art is gorgeous.

The origin of my "DJ Name" is another story, but it partially relates to Edogawa Ranpo*. The author's pen name is partially a Japanese homophone for "Edgar Allan Poe", but also means "to ramble along the banks of the Edo river" in Japanese. 

This reading of "The Human Chair" is excellent. It fits the eerie vibe of the story and dovetails with a fitting soundtrack. It elevated the experience of the tale for me, which I've only read in Tuttle's version of "Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination". If I stretch my memory, I may have also read a manga adaptation by Junji Ito, but it feels like a fever dream.

"The Human Chair", written in 1929, is not my favorite Ranpo piece, but it ranks in the top 5. My favorite is actually "Caterpillar" (キャタピラー), which deals with eroguro themes and the atrocities of war. There is actually a decent film adaptation from 2010; I was able to watch it for free through my local library via the online platform Kanopy. 

After listening to this copy of "The Human Chair", I looked it up to add it to my Discogs. I realized that the same company made an LP of "Caterpillar" as well, so without thinking, I ordered it right away. 

This is the only spoken word vinyl I've ever purchased, but I enjoyed it. I was incredibly surprised when I opened it and discovered a number of details. First, the sleeve was a gate fold, featuring an essay on Edogawa Ranpo by Marc Walkow which I recommend reading. Secondly, the vinyl was milky white with marbled black splatters. 

I came into this secondhand purchase with no precedent or expectation, so was in awe when I unsleeved the vinyl for the first time. I haven't been this tickled by a vinyl since I opened a Christian Death LP and it was bright pink. 

Anyway, it was a fun find today. I'm on my third play through of it. I can't wait to receive "Caterpillar".

 

*"Rampo" can be romanized with either an "m" or an "n". "N" seems more authentic to me because that is how it should be transcribed from Japanese characters—your tongue should touch the top of your mouth making an "n" sound rather than a voiced bilabial sound—but it seems widely published with "m", so I'll take it.